Monthly Archives: February 2012

Haven’t booked a Valentine’s Day dinner date yet? Fear not: you can make out with your better half in the observation deck of the Corning Tower for just $500, and as an added bonus, Brian Kolb will be there. I know, I know. Nothing new here. We all know Sir Isaac Newton’s fourth law of […] More »

In this weekend’s Gannett newspapers, we took a look at efforts to reform the state’s prescription drug database and the different ways state officials are looking at attacking it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and several state lawmakers are all looking at improving the state’s database, which requires pharmacies to report which narcotic […] More »

Eric Cantor and his wife, Diana, at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference last May. (Photo: Getty)
Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor revealed a restaurant named for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s libera… More »

State lawmakers are holding a hearing today that looks at the growing problem of distracted driving and ways the state could crack down on it. “We’ve all seen cars swerving and driving erratically because the driver is paying more attention to a phone call, a text message or email instead of the road,” said Senate […] More »

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on Fox News on Sunday, mostly to blast President Obama over his Iran policy, but the conversation quickly turned to recent contretemps over Obama’ contraception mandate.
And Hizzoner made an interesting comparison:
“… More »

City Controller John Liu’s No. 2 is stepping down, dealing a major blow to the scandal-scarred pol and plans to overhaul the city’s $120 billion pension system, the Daily News has learned. Our Blau and Moore report: Liu’s office will announce Mon… More »

The Obama campaign announced this morning that they will launch a new crowd-sourced initiative, to in their words, “promote the President’s achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable.”

The effort follows up a similar one in 2008 called “Fight The Smears” which was designed to debunk rumors that Mr. Obama was born in Kenya or was a Muslim. That decision came amid some hand-wringing over whether or not it was better to ignore the false rumors in the hopes that they would go away or confront them head on.

This time around, in a signal of what the campaign will look like going forward, the effort is less focused on Mr. Obama and more focused on his Republican opponent, with websites like KeepingGOPHonest.com, and AttackWatch.com -“serving as quick, comprehensive resources to help set the record straight,” the campaign writes.

Designed to put responsibility for spreading the truth in the hands of the President’s supporters, the websites contain videos and information on the President’s record, and fact checks on Republican claims about the President and themselves. The sites also contain tools for sharing materials via Facebook, Twitter and email, and empowers supporters to take further action by volunteering, writing letters to the editor, sending postcards to undecided voters with information about the President’s record, and more. The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives.

This campaign will be a state-by-state effort and will be powered by some of the president’s union allies in National Education Association, the Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the United Steelworkers Union.

The email from campaign aide Stephanie Cutter to supporters announcing the new initiative is below

Subject: Sit back or fight back

SUPPORTER –

If we’ve learned anything from the Republican primaries, it’s that this is no ordinary election.

The GOP candidates are spending a huge amount of time attacking President Obama — no surprise. But instead of basing their attacks on our differences of opinion, they’ve chosen to run on claims about his record that just aren’t true.

Mitt Romney says that, despite 23 consecutive months of job growth under the President’s watch, he’s made the recession “worse.” Rick Santorum says that the Affordable Care Act, which was based in part on Republican proposals and provides millions of Americans with access to affordable, private health insurance, is a government takeover of health care. They’re not acting alone: With the newfound power of outside groups, these lies can be instantly amplified with millions of dollars in special-interest ad spending.

If the other guys are going to run a campaign based on misrepresenting the President’s record — and their own — we have two options: sit back and let these lies go unchallenged, or fight back with the truth.

We’re fighting back. Today we’re introducing a new resource for grassroots supporters who want to make sure that when voters go to the polls in November, they know the truth — and you should be a part of it.

The website has three sections to reflect the team’s goals: Keeping his word, where we’ll communicate about President Obama’s record and promises kept; Attack Watch, to fight back against false attacks on the President; and Keeping GOP Honest, where we’ll debunk the Republicans’ false claims about their own records.

In short, it’s the grassroots communications team of the Obama 2012 campaign. We’ll provide resources for you to learn everything you need to know and tools to help you share it with undecided voters in your life.

Communicating about the President’s record — and that of our opponents — is what I do full-time. But people don’t just want to hear from campaign statements or ads — they want to hear from the family and friends they trust.

The President needs folks on board to roll up their sleeves, stand with him, and get the truth out all over the country.

So the next time you hear Mitt Romney accusing the President of “crony capitalism” or someone asking, “What has President Obama really accomplished?” you’ll know what to do.

The new Orthodox Jewish state senate district
The Senate Republicans may have drawn their own special election candidate David Storobin out of the district he’s running in, but Mr. Storobin says he’ll simply move into the newly created Orthodox Jewish … More »

Good morning! Winter finally came? Certainly in Rochester, which was buried under lake effect snow. Anyway. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany today with no public appearances scheduled. Sen. Chuck Fuschillo will hold a hearing this morning on distracted driving, and budget hearings continue. Here are headlines from the morning and weekend… If you re-ran […] More »

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public schedule. There are two legislative budget hearings today in Albany. The first, on housing, will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The second, on human services, runs from noon to 5 p.m. Both are in Hearing Room B, LOB. At 10 a.m., Sen. Charles Fuschillo, More »

The UFT is out with an ad that continues the latest trend: Shooting the message, but avoiding the messenger. The 30-second spot, which features a number of real-life educators lauding their students’ achievements and a cameo by UFT President Mike Mulgrew, does not address any specific woes. Instead, it laments “some politicians,” who shall remain More »

David Storobin (Photo: Facebook)
Republican David Storobin might see his Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler, directly outraising him in the race to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger, but at a Brooklyn Young Republican Club meeting Sunda… More »

Today’s TU features a fascinating analysis by Sasha Chavkin and Michael Keller of The New York World, Columbia Journalism School’s government accountability initiative, who worked with Steve Romalewski of the Center for Urban Research to lay 2010 voting results over the proposed district lines for the Senate and Assembly released last month by LATFOR. In […] More »

PEF Rep - 30 yr member: The three years of work done and paid for by the members Shredded. Is this rhe heart of a...

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Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.